


How Beautiful the Sun Is

by ZackOfTheNight



Category: White Collar
Genre: F/M, Heists, I attempt to connect history to fiction, Neal is back, Post series finale, Smut will be later, Spain, Treasure Hunting, Well not yet - Freeform, not together, with Alex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:40:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21611641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZackOfTheNight/pseuds/ZackOfTheNight
Summary: Neal Caffrey has returned to conning, and his next one has him paired with a former acquaintance/lover of his.
Relationships: Neal Caffrey/Alex Hunter
Kudos: 4
Collections: Shameless Smuts





	How Beautiful the Sun Is

Neal patiently waited in an empty hall. He had been eager the past few days to finally make it to Barcelona, Spain to find and run away with his new score inside a mansion belonging to Spanish royalty. Of course, to get inside he posed a golfer for the upcoming charity tournament. It's not like Neal to take up sports, but it gave him access to the mansion by attending the invitational dinner being held. After excusing himself to go to the bathroom, he snuck away and now heard a voice from the little earpiece in his right ear. 

“The password you got to access their main network from the waitress worked out, I was able to remote into their security computer. I've hijacked the live feed Neal.” Mozzie informed him.

“The sweet lady couldn’t resist sympathizing another colleague having a hard time connecting to their network while on their phone. Nice to see the card games playing in our favour.” Neal said as he looked ahead in the mansion.

“Now all you gotta do is get past the lasers.”

Neal took out a tin can and sprayed the area in front of him, revealing all types of lasers. As any well renowned criminal, this spot was chosen by strategy. At the beginning of each new minute, for around five seconds, there was a path that someone with Neal’s size can slide by while on their knees.

“The Spanish never made it easy to steal.” He took a deep breath in and turned to his left, pushed as hard as he could with his thighs, sprinting into the open hall. As his reached the first pair of lasers crossed in front of him, he instantly dropped his calves onto the ground and rode under the red beams, bending his neck back wickedly. He counted, _1, 2, 3, 4 . ._

The last second approached. “Five.” Neal’s momentum stopped, he looked around cautiously to see that he had made it to the other side. The lasers were inches from his feet behind him, he made sure to get up slowly. He brushed off the picked up material from the floor that was on his black tailored pants that went with his custom Gábor Rashaw suit, France’s most up and coming designer with his daring approaches to designing a suit. On Neal, it was sharp around his arms and legs, complimenting the life of a con artist while fitting sporty enough to let him pull off acrobatic heists.

“So far so good.” 

“Neal, from the intel we gathered, the prize is in the gallery room. The room down on the left, from there it’s all on you.” 

“Thanks Mozz. The feeling never gets old, but since leaving New York it’s always felt different.” 

“Well as a great poet once said ‘Different doesn’t mean wrong.’” He made a light grin and walked in, it was a normal size room that seemed to be barely visited. 

“They said it lies hidden but not guarded. It’s only meant to be found by the brave.” Neal spoke to himself, still trying to interpret the advice he was given.

He took another look around. To his right was a handcarved desk with some papers lying on it, following to its left was three paintings, each of Spanish origin. He shifted back facing straight, focusing on the opposite side where a pair of chairs with a globe in between all sitting above a decorated rug and beside a wooden cabinet to preserve documents. Still with a calm look, he finished scanning the room by examining his left side, a book shelf covering most of the wall.

“They didn’t make it easy for us, no clue on where it is and not much time to find it.”

He began to search by the desk. Pulling out drawers, looking for any hidden spots, keys, wherever someone would stash away a valuable item. _Nothing_. He walked toward the middle, trying to decide where to look next. He thought the bookshelves weren’t the right choice, but the fish tank perhaps could be worth a look. He walked over to begin his search, however, Mozzie buzzed back in.

“Neal get to cover someone is coming!” He check the entrance to the room then hurried behind the cabinet, tightening up his body as much as he could to make sure he was concealed.

A servant in red and black attire entered and went over to the fish tank and picked up two bottles of feed, dumping the contents into the massive aquarium. This gave Neal a chance to breath. The servant walked along the tank making sure each portion got the right amount of food. He finished after another minute, heading back out. He put the bottles back where they and looked toward the exit, however something caught the corner of his eye. In the middle, the grand rug that covered the middle, the little ties of rope that were connected to the sides of the rug were disturbed, as if someone were in a rush, or trying to hide. His eyes narrowed, mouth straightened, and began to investigate the rug. 

_Shit, I’m blown._ Neal thought, all of the planning and conning to be caught because of some hungry fish. He had no weapons, he never did, but instead of finding the prize he’s been after, he’ll now have to make an emergency exit. _As soon as he makes eye contact with me, I’m bolting out of here._

The servant moved closer to Neal, a few feet away from. He was following the hot trail, until a voice came from behind. 

“¡Perdon Señor!” (Excuse me Sir!)

The man turned around to see a lovely woman, wearing a navy blue dress, exposing her toned left nicely.

“¿Como has venido aquí?” (How did you come here?)

“¡Los invitados, están demasiado borrachos! ¡Los vi aplastar cosas!” (The guests, they are too drunk! I saw them smash things!)  
She grabbed the servant and yanked him out towards the door, prompting him to ask what direction she saw the chaos. The girl pointed to her left, saying to go back by the dining hall. He grabbed his radio and said something about getting a backup inside as he ran down the hall, leaving the girl alone with Neal. He let out a deep sigh of relief.

“I’d say thank you, but I’m more curious how you knew I was in trouble.” 

“I just have my sixth sense tell me when you’re in trouble Caffrey. I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re about to slip up.” She said with her eyes set on him with a straight face.

“I didn’t know I had that strong of a presence to you.” Neal said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“You don’t, it was Mozzie who told me a guard was coming.” _Of course!_ “Mozzie we’ll take it from here, head back to the safe house.”

He got up, brushed off his suit and smiled to Alex Hunter who looked gorgeous with the moon light glimmering down onto her dress.

“You look fantastic Alex.” She met his eyes, opening, letting Neal see more of her perfect pair of dark brown eyes. He felt his heart skipped a beat the way she smiled to him.

“You cleaned up nice too.” She walked over to him. “Now where the hell is this necklace?”

“I don’t know, I just observed the room before I got interrupted.” She rolled her eyes, then took a look of the room herself. “Like old times? I take one half, you take the other?” Neal suggested, smiling to her. 

She smiled back to him. “Sure, I’ll take the book shelves and chairs over here.”

Neal had no problem with her choice, he’d get to examine the masterful artwork while searching.

Alex began pulling books off the shelf, seeing if there any clue as to where a necklace might be hidden. After searching around a few she got the hint that it’s not here, the books were only for reading only. All the piled up dust was evidence that it wasn’t here. She moved to globe and chairs that were accompanied by small tables, each with locked drawers. She used her necklace, a shape of a crescent moon, and a pin to unlock the drawers. They clicked opened and when she took them out all she saw was more papers, _nothing._ She sighed, frustrated, with her previous heist as a failure she needed the payout even more from this one.

Neal, as he wanted, looked at the paintings. First, examining a Spanish ship facing a rough Mediterranean sea. Not seeing much he moved to the next, a painting of Charles III heroically on a horse. Impressed with the painting he moved on to the third painting, perhaps the one took his most interest. It was a rare Francisco Goya, illustrating a matador taking on a black bull, capturing the intense moment between the two. He looked for anything behind them, but like Alex nothing and nothing to give him a clue where it might be. 

“It’s gotta be here.”

Alex walked up to him. “Maybe Mozzie was wrong, he usually got his Spanish mixed up.”

He looked with a more serious look than normal. “He wouldn’t mess this one up.” He went back to scanning the room. “If it’s here, and we confirmed there’s no secret locks or hidden parts, then there’s only spot it can be.”

“What’s that?” She asked, keeping her eyes on him.

He turned back to her, smiling. “In plain sight.” Neal walked over to paintings, observing them more closely this time. He walked by each one again, looking at everything, the layout, the bases, every detail until one painting caught his attention.

“The Goya painting, it’s a forgery.” She got next to Neal to see the flaw he spotted.

“The oils are off, they did well to age the painting but there’s almost no stains, a painting that old would.” He said without turning around, trying to uncover why a forgery would be here.

“How can you be sure? It’s never been seen by the public, it could’ve been restored.” 

“No, a restoration wouldn’t change the way it flows, the strokes are off with his depiction of action. This isn’t a Goya.”

“Ok so that’s a clue right?" She walked up to him, observing him with an added interest. Seeing Neal at his best reminded her of wanting to be with him. "Then there’s a message in this about where the necklace is?”

Neal looked at painting, focusing on the bull. “It's not a clue, it is the hiding spot for the necklace.” He thought back to the intel he was given when took up the con. His right hand went into a fist, he raised it level to the painting and cocked it back, ready to destroy the art. “Only the brave can find it.”

“What? Neal! Wait!” Alex tried to stop him but it was too late. He punched through the painting and searched for the jewelry inside. He felt around, not feeling anything until the bottom left corner where a surprised look appeared on his face. He felt something cool and metal like with a circular shape and pulled it out.

Alex’s eyes popped open to see a shiny gold necklace with a jewel bigger than the Hope diamond part of the chain. _Very clever Neal._

"What is that?"

"A rumor for centuries. This is a special Alexandrite necklace, it's over 50 carats making it worth millions." He grinned to her. “Surprised?” 

“When I’m with you, no. I always expect the impossible.” She lightly smiled to him looking back and forth on him and the jewel.

He was going to speak but a loud ring came from their earpieces then a voice made them both turn to the door.

"¡Impostora!¡Impostora!" (Imposter!) The voice was getting closer.

“I thought you did get the guests stirred up?” Neal asked as both of them dropped and crushed their earphones.

“I suppose the golfers aren't as interested in drinking during late nights, they aren't known for wild parties!” Alex defended as Neal stashed the necklace inside his suit.

“We gotta leave now, I know a way out.” He grabbed her hand and lead her out the emergency exit Mozzie informed Neal of. They headed down an empty hall coming to a door that lead to the backyard garden. He took his pickpocket case out and used his stencils to unlock the door.

"¡Ahí está!" (There she is!)

Alex didn’t turn around to look at the guard, Neal bursted out sprinting toward a towering brick and fell into the darkness. She followed him, not sure what his plan was but it was better than hers.

Alex reached for the wall, covered in darkness and felt a tap on her. She looked down to her right to see pointing at a part removed from the wall.

“Of course, Mozzie.”

“You can thank him later, we have to hurry!” She got onto her elbows and knees and crawled through the small space. Neal followed quickly after and put back on the wall piece, then laid what looked like glue around the edges. 

“And that’s supposed to stop them.”

“It’s gonna buy us time, come on.” He grabbed her hand as they raced off into the forest off on the left. 

~~~~

On the other part of the city, a man in a black shirt and pants sitting in a modern condo receives a text message while on his laptop. 

‘Two people. Turn on police. Bring back the green gem.’

He got up from his bleached wooden desk and grabbed his keys for his BMW M3 along with a leather jacket and a black hat to cover his short dirty blonde hair. He picked up a dark duffel bag as he headed out.

~~~~

Neal wished this had never happened. He was to have a larger crew, more time to case the mansion, but his benefactor gave him a strict deadline of retrieving the necklace so he had to be bold and play his cards right. Except right now it looked like a fold only after the cards had just been dealt.

“Why can’t Mozzie save us?”

“Because we didn’t have time to create an extraction. It’d be too tough in this city to use a vehicle to escape. We have to do this old school.” He ran out and crossed the street running ahead to the buildings on the outskirts of the city.

The sounds of sirens were heard now as police raced into the city, hot on their trail. Alex began to worry as she started to see the flashing lights nearing toward her.

“Sospechosos son vistos, se dirigen al noroeste” (Suspects are spotted, they’re heading northwest) The driver with a black hat says on the police radio channel, updating their new location. They were heading past a couple stores and now towards a crowded street filled with outside restaurants. Listening to the officer in a black BMW is the man who’s after the same pair. He Pulls a map onto his driving wheel, he looks to his right, exposing a cross tattoo on the back of his neck as he takes a sharp turn away from the police ahead of his car. 

Alex followed Neal running into a crowd that were still finishing up their dinners outside. Alex knew at this point if they continued like this, they’d get caught and extradited back to the U.S. They blew past the families eating into a more open area and something caught Alex’s eye. There was a shop with both men’s and women’s clothing. She pulled Neal over and he quickly got the message. They both threw on new coats and hats giving a new look. 

The police caught up but were confused, no one was running and the guy and girl of the description were not seen. They began to walk scanning the people walking. 

The two walked closer to the end of the road, which lead to a back alley. Walking, they saw two officers slowly walk their way. Alex looked to Neal who already closed the gap between them. He pushed her up against the stone wall, giving Alex a fiery kiss that made her forget the chasing going on. When they broke off for a moment, she looked down to Neal but kept her eyes stealthily on the officers as they walked by. They got closer, and finally they were right next to both of them, looking at the two quickly and continued, trying to mind their own business. 

The police stopped, then continued walking. Alex tugged on Neal’s coat and went in for one more then came off, walking again. A voice came from behind suddenly.

“Stop! You two!” The same police shouted.

They didn’t look back, but ran away sprinting down the alley. The officers reported in their current siting.

“Sospechosos detectados. Ahora están corriendo por un callejón más allá de Guwala Ave.” Was relayed on the radio updating their new location.

(Suspects spotted. Now running down an alley past Guwala Ave)

The mysterious man now parked his car and took out his HK45 pistol from the bag and took out an Osprey 45 silencer. He walked out and toward the city lights, tightening the silencer onto the gun as police sirens could be heard in the distance.

Neal and Alex came out the other side of the alley, now on another crowded street. Neal looked for something, anything to help them lose the cops. A map further down from them caught the corner of his eye.

“Come on.”

They headed over to the map, which highlighted the different areas. Neal tried to find something that would get the police off of them while Alex looked around for any police. She slipped her hand into Neal’s which made him stop for a second to look at her. _Not now, stay focused, there’s always a way out._ Alex then shook Neal’s hand, the cops had caught up.

“Time to go!” 

Neal looked at the men in uniform running toward them, seeing how much time they had between the officers and took off, running across the busy street with cars. Drivers had to swerve and emergency brake, causing chaos for the police. It was dangerous but it gave Neal and Alex more time. They again escaped into the darkness of the streets, nearing closer to the safe house. As more crucial minutes passed, they arrived at an apartment complex, climbing up the stairs to the roof. They were up on the roofs and started to cross over each ledge, still looking for a way to truly drop the police. Neal felt slightly guilty in the moment, he didn't mean for the con to turn out this way. He brought in Alex for extra help and now he's put her in unnecessary danger.

They came to a bigger gap now, about 10 feet of space in between. Neal climbed the ledge and looked back expecting to see cops. A figure did appear from the darkness, a man dressed in black pants with a slim black leather jacket with leather gloves. _The Spanish really aren't happy with us stealing this._

“Not good. Alex, we have to jump, we have to do this.” 

“Neal I don’t know if-" He reached out his hand to her.

“Alex, do you trust me?” She hesitated, still below the ledge. “Alex!”

The approaching man and sound of cops entering the home turned Neal around. He pulled her up with him and nodded. _We can make it._ He bent down then leapt forward pushing hard with his thighs and calves. 

After a second of being unable to recount what’s going on, Neal hit some concrete and skidded. He made it, he turned to his left to see no one by his side. Seeing Alex still on the other roof made fear start to sink in.

“Alex, jump!” **  
**

She finally leapt, not getting a push off like Neal’s and fear came on her face as she fell before the other side, she screamed.

Neal realizing she was gonna be short, dashed out towards her and reached for her arm. The force from her falling almost caused him to go over as well. He put a leg onto the wall to give more strength to his arms. Alex looked up to him, shear panic and worry across her face.

“I got you.” He pulled and brought her up. She looked into his eyes for a moment then they kissed, pressing hard against each others lips. “Ok now what?” Both looked around to see where to go next. Alex was the first to spot something. Neal got distracted as he now saw the man slow down his pace to pull out a gun with his right hand. She grabbed his hand, he looked back to her as she brought him over to the other side of the roof.

“Now, we ride down.” She whipped off his belt and slung it over the metal cable attached to the top. Neal hugged her and she pushed off the building as bullets flew past them. Neal turned to see the man dressed in black now jumping over the ledge. 

As the man landed they jumped off the building, the man extended his pistol as he sent more bullets flying past them.

They came flying in faster than either thought, being whip lashed forward by the momentum. Neal still holding Alex, turned so he would take the blow from crashing into the street. After a couple of tumbles they stopped, alone on the quite street. Alex shifted , Neal feeling her movements against him made to feel warm where she touched him. He saw her freeze too, catching her eyes glitter with the lights on them. He rested his hand behind her head and brought her in for another kiss, this one he felt Alex press harder. 

He got up, and helped her too then took out his small pack of tools to undo the cable as the man was about to do the same as they did.

“Come on.”

Having lost track of the two, the man holstered his pistol and headed back to his car. He got back on the road and drove toward the royal mansion.

Neal was happy for once in awhile. He hadn’t had as much fun as he hoped when he went back to pulling heists. He had questioned whether he should’ve stayed with Peter back in New York. But now he was sure this was the right choice. He couldn’t have stayed in the same routine at the Fed office, being in a strict schedule and still having eyes watching over him. That seemed logical and the emotional part was figuring his longtime former partner, Alex Hunter. 

As they crossed park that was empty, the adrenaline was still pumping hard throughout their bodies. Neal's hand was shaking so hard after his fifth attempt he was able to unlock his phone. Alex similarly couldn't stop shaking. _We both need to calm down._ Neal recognized and he pushed her against a tree and went in for one more kiss. The thrill of returning of running from police and to Neal being with Alex felt right, but Alex has been quite since the escape. They can sort things out later. They kissed again, and again, and once more. The warmth of each other's bodies made a great remedy to shaking off the scares.

After walking for another twenty minutes evading police, staying in the darker parts of the city, they made it to the safe house. They were so exhausted they barely could stand up right when unlocking the door. They saw a unnerved Mozzie reading a book while sipping on wine. 

“What happened to you two?” He asked the two as he put his stuff down.

“They caught on to us quicker than we would’ve liked.” They both entered the small house. Alex went to the fridge to grab a glass of water.

“Well did you get the treasure?”

Neal, breathing heavily, reached into his right pocket and took out the necklace and tossed it to Mozzie. 

“Wow, it has to be one of the biggest gems ever.”

“That can explain why they called in a killer to take it back." 

"Huh, you know the Spanish were never forgiving to those who stole from them." Neal rolled his eyes, the world may be chaotic but Mozzie always made a great relief. Alex met Neal's eyes then headed to the guest bedroom. Neal caught his breath before thanking her.

“Alex, thanks again for earlier. It’s still early to go to bed, I got a nice Bordeaux, wanna do some catching up?”

She hesitated, thinking carefully of what to say. “No problem Caffrey, we saved each other so I suppose we’re even. That running has made me tired, the wine would be overkill. It'll have to be another time.” His smile faded into a slight frown. She went in to kiss him on the cheek. “Goodnight.”

She turned and closed the door. Neal feeling accomplished with the gem in his possession still felt a black hole residing within him, what does Alex Hunter mean to him?

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought! Drop any feedback, thanks.  
> I'm technically late on posting this, and incomplete too! wtf!  
> I want to get this right so I'll post the remaining chapters as soon as they're ready.


End file.
